The Iowa Hawkeyes improved to 6-1 with a dominant 110-77 win over USC Upstate on Tuesday night from inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Just about everything was working for Iowa as the Hawkeyes rolled up the Spartans to the tune of 60.6% shooting and 46.2% 3-point marksmanship. Iowa racked up 26 fastbreak points, scored 31 points off turnovers and notched 50 points in the paint.
Sophomore guard Brock Harding registered another career-high scoring output with 20 points to lead the Hawkeyes.
The only real downside of the night was seeing sophomore forward Seydou Traore exit early in the first half with a lower right leg injury. The Manhattan transfer got tangled up underneath the Hawkeyes’ basket and left the court unable to put weight down on his right side.
That had some fans fearing the worst, but Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery provided what will be seen as a positive injury update afterwards. Per McCaffery, Traore suffered a “bad sprain” of his right ankle.
“Yeah, it’s just a bad sprain, so you just hope it’s a week or a few extra days rather than two, two and a half weeks, three weeks. You don’t know,” McCaffery told the Hawkeye Radio Network.
Traore is averaging 6.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 41.9% field goal shooting. The 6-foot-7 forward from New York, N.Y., is shooting 25.0% from 3-point distance.
Traore’s athleticism has been a boost on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, so a quick and healthy return would be ideal as Big Ten play arrives.
Iowa returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 3 from inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena when it hosts Northwestern at 6 p.m. CT on Peacock. After its date against Northwestern, Iowa plays Michigan on Dec. 7 and No. 5 Iowa State on Dec. 12.
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